Behaviour Change

PROPAGANDA FOR CHANGE is a project created by the students of Behaviour Change (ps359) and Professor Thomas Hills at the Psychology Department of the University of Warwick. This work was supported by funding from Warwick's Institute for Advanced Teaching and Learning.

Thursday, March 16, 2017

Combating perceptions of sexual assault on university campuses

Our behaviour change project addressed the
issue of sexual assault. We looked specifically at the crime itself, as well as
the effects of the stigma put upon the victims. Because this issue is so
commonplace, especially amongst university campuses, and yet still holds such a
large amount of lawful ambiguity and disregard, we believed it was an important
topic to create a medium of discussion for. Statistically, around 85,000 women
and 12,000 men throughout England and Wales are raped every year. On top of
this, it is said that only 15% of those victims end up actually reporting the
crime. Because of the controversy behind victim blaming (in regards to
provocative clothing, or inebriation), as well the empirical evidence issue
regarding the reporting of the perpetrator, those that commit the act generally
continue to retain the attitude of the behaviour being acceptable.

Often misinformation about the issue can come
from assuming that a general reduction in violent crime over time can be used
for prophetic predictions, something Pinker (2006) said to be mindful of. This
is in support of our choice of focusing on sexual abuse instead of other
issues: the decreasing trend observed so far should not lull work done in
favour of future decrease of rapes on campuses.

Because of these jarring statistics, we felt
it was important to target the general student population (hopefully
encompassing the potential offenders and victims) to try and inform the
populace of the dangers and implications of the act itself, as well as the
effects of the crime and the stigma on the victim. Our project took form as an installation
placed in central campus. We obtained a bed, dressed it to elude to a form of
sexual activity (messy duvet, open condom packet), signposted multiple relevant
statistics regarding sexual assault, presented people with a sexual assault
story we created based off multiple real life accounts, as well as presenting
multiple A3 sheets of paper proposing potential solutions for the issues. These
sheets were titled with the question “Where do we go from here?” to prompt
input from visitors.

We hoped to try and implement this through multiple
persuasion techniques to encourage behaviour change, with the victim account
being our main tool to reduce misinformation. The techniques used
were:

Installation set up

1. Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB)The TPB (Azjen, 1991) helped us plan our project, as so far
its application improved predictability of intention in fields such as condom
use, leisure, and diet, which are difficult to influence (Azjen & Driver,
1993; Conner, Kirk, Cade & Barrett, 2003; ill & Taylor, 1999). This is
the idea that attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control
create intentions which then lead to actions. Various reports claim that our
collective attitude towards sexual assault focuses on victim blaming (Ullman,
2010). This could mean that we think victims have control over whether they’re
assaulted, which is a false assumption. We wanted to challenge this attitude
with our installation. Around the bed posts and the gazebo over the bed we have
attached an account of a victim of sexual assault which focused on absolving
the victim of all blame, as well as showing that anyone can be a victim. This
aimed to challenge the norm of victim blaming and is discussed later in the
blog. We also gave readers some perceived behavioural control to change the
situation by offering them a chance to write suggestions of what can be done to
reduce the risk of sexual assault on campus, which quite a few did. We felt
that an interactive installation would challenge the attitudes and norms
effectively, as a bed in the middle of the piazza is more difficult to ignore
than a leaflet or a video which can be ignored and scrolled past.

Some next steps mentioned by students

2. EmpathyBecause empathy formed a big part of inducing behaviour
change, we created a first – person account that could be read to interact with
the installation. Research has shown that reading often increases empathy (Mar,
Djikic, & Oatley, 2008), an effect Steven Pinker (2011) reports majorly
contributed to the decrease in physical violence during the period “Humanitarian
Revolution”. During this time the expansion in the availability of the
epistolary novel, depicting everyday lives in real time and in the words of the
protagonist was a key driving force behind the fresh outrage felt over human
right abuses (Hunt, 2008). We aimed to utilize this effect by installing an account
of a survivor of sexual abuse on six separate A4 sheets at eye level on the
four legs of the gazebo. The single continuous story was compiled from multiple
anonymous accounts retrieved from various websites, and thus being 4 pages long
it provided the opportunity for the observer to immerse themselves into the
thoughts of the survivor, meanwhile walking around the bed which formed the
centre of the installation. Using real accounts yet creating a fictional piece
of literature out of them is supported by a 2009 study by Dijkic, Oatley,
Zoeterman and Peterson. The researchers provide evidence that reading an
artistic version of a story compared to the same story in documentary form
results in significant differences in the change of emotions and Big Five
traits measured before and after reading the respective stories. By eliciting
an emotional response and allowing for first-person perspective taking to
happen, we aimed to facilitate that which Peter Singer (1981) called the
expansion of the empathy circle, the group of people whose interests we can
value comparably to our own.

3. The
mere exposure effect

We
aimed to choose a date for setting up the installation with maximising exposure
in mind. Considering Zajonc’s (2001) study on the robust effects of mere
exposure, we opted for the 9th of February, which was the day
preceding a theatrical performance was performed at the Warwick Arts Centre
with sexual abuse as its theme. Experience of repetition enhances positive
affect if negative stimuli are absent, Zajonc (2001) writes, and he states that
this affect can attach not only to the stimuli to which the subject was exposed
to, but to distinct stimuli as well. We hypothesised that in this case, the
repeated exposure to the issue of sexual abuse on campus, presented in
personal, approachable and artistic ways instead of as raw statistics and
graphic representations can contribute to not only increased awareness to, but
a more positive perception of sexual abuse survivors on campus.

Close up of the victim account

4. Hovland-Yale ModelWith regards to developing the message itself,
the Hovland-Yale model was useful (Hovland, Janis & Kelley, 1953). It’s
been shown that we are more easily persuaded when we think the message is not
deliberately intended to persuade or manipulate us (Walster & Festinger,
1962). Therefore, we made sure that the victim account wasn’t explicitly
challenging the audience’s views, but instead we edited the account to elicit
empathetic concern for the victim. Empathy has an indirect effect on persuasion
as it mitigates psychological reactance (Shen, 2010), so we knew it was a
better alternative than aggressively challenging the norm of victim blaming.

5. Framing

Previous
related awareness and discussion inducing campaigns such as the ‘I Heart
Consent’ workshops have been prominent of the Warwick’s campus, with some
finding them controversial resulting in further discussion on the issue itself (National
Union of Students, 2015). Though they have been successful, the problem with
many campaigns is that facts and statistics are mentioned in ways that may not
be clear enough and so lead to confusion. Because of this, framing was a
persuasive method used for our installation to present information that was
clear and understandable. Framing refers to altering the perspective displayed
by information through presenting it in a different way to evoke a desired
response and emotions (Kahneman, 2011). Research on visualising and
understanding risk has shown that poor presentation of information can lead to
people making poor decisions. For instance, when doctors were asked to
calculate the probability of a patient developing breast cancer from
information containing percentages, two-thirds gave the wrong answer. Instead,
reframing the information through using fractions is a more effective way to
present statistical data (Gigerenzer & Edwards, 2003). Therefore, our
installation used few statistics, but those that were used were presented in
the form of fractions too, to show how high the occurrence of assault was on
campuses. An example is the “1/3 of female students in Britain have experienced
sexual assault or unwanted advances” statistic (Goldhill & Bingham, 2015). We
signposted the statistics next to the suggestion sheet to aid prompting of
ideas for improvement, on the bed to as a symbol of how damaging rape can be as
well as by the victim account. This presented information in a quick and easily
digestible manner for those walking by and coupled with the use of survivor
stories to show the reality of dealing with assault which spiked curiosity and
engagement.

Example of statistics used

6.
The interactive templateThe
creation of the installation was based on a behaviour change technique known as
the ‘interactive template’ where people can engage with the set-up enabling
them to visualise what the situation could look like (Goldenberg, Mazursky &
Solomon, 1999). It’s often used for advertisements such as the two page Peugeot
magazine spread that had an image of a front facing view of a car and asked
readers to press the small inflated air bag where the image of the steering
wheel was (Oetting, 2015). Readers could press the airbag and the goal of this
was to show the importance of it and the positive effect it can have, the fact
that a Peugeot car had one of these must mean their cars are well made. In our
project, we used the ‘imaginary experiment’ version of the technique where
people could touch any part of our installation such as the bed with unkempt
sheets and condom wrappers as well as the printed story. People would use these
objects as tools to imagine and think about the severity of the topic and so
encourage behaviour change which could occur through writing suggestions for
things the university can do to solve the problem on materials provided.
Essentially, the purpose of this was to immerse visitors into the experience.

Students providing their suggestions for change

7.
Social ProofFurther means of our project influencing behaviour change
is through the model social proof. Social proof, within the context of our
installation, is the form of informational social influence that capitalises on
peoples need and desire to confidently navigate a social environment. Aronson, Wilson
and Akert (2015) clearly define it as a belief that other people’s
interpretation of an ambiguous situation is more accurate than your own;
therefore, adopting their behaviour and/or attitude is the perceived
appropriate course of action. We placed our installation in a public space
intentionally, so individuals would see passersbys interacting and discussing
the topic and implications of sexual assault, thereby initiating the form of
informational influence in regards to the damaging effects on victims of
assault as well as the potential ambiguity of consent (an apparent theme made clear
within our hypothetical story we sign posted around the installation). Social
proofing is also in effect through more negative means that are out of our
control. Through the likes of those misinformed about the topic or those that
endorse the act, the misinformation around identifying the crime itself and the
misinformation regarding a sex positive environment creates a perception that
sexual assault could be normalised or even acceptable (Hellmuth, 2016). Because
of peoples’ reluctance to be plain about committed sex crimes (Abel &
Rouleau, 1990), this form of negative social proofing is difficult to prevent.
However, with our installation, we hoped to target those susceptible to this
form of misinformation within the university population and present them with
an alternative opportunity to interact and consider the attitude of not only
those that contribute a sex positive attitude to the discussion, but the
potential victims, whose struggle we hoped to justly represent through our
hypothetical story and visual aid (the bed).

8. The Snowball effectVan Avermaet’s Snowball Effect (1996) outlines a form of
social influence that could potentially come from our installation having taken
place. As well as the likes of a production about sexual assault taking place
on the university campus the next day, these means of conversing and discussing
create opportunities for social proofing and the subsequent sharing of
attitudes. The Snowball Effect outlines the process where the influenced
attitudes or behaviours from the appropriately informed minority increase in
influential effectiveness and scale. This process is continuous to the point
where the informed minority potentially become the informed majority. This
majority will hopefully consist of the previously misinformed perpetrators or
advocates of sexual assault. This would contribute to our goal of spreading a
sex positive attitude to individuals at risk of becoming offenders, as well as
creating a more empathetic population on our university campus for sexual
assault victims; all by providing students with a medium to share ideas,
stories, attitudes and beliefs.

Conclusion

Essentially, the purpose of this project was to challenge
attitudes and beliefs around consent in regards to rape and its impact in the
university context. Through effectively utilising persuasion techniques for
behaviour change we hoped to raise awareness on the lack of support for
students but also providing them with a platform to have their views and ideas
expressed to fix the problem. We understand that there could’ve been
improvements to our installation and its implementation however we received
positive feedback and were able to spark discussion on a topic that’s often
considered taboo. More importantly we were able to motivate students who
visited the installation to consider an alternate perspective resulting in the
demystification of myths and motivating them to take action.

Pinker, S. (2011).The
better angels of our nature: The decline of violence in history and its causes.
Penguin UK.

Sheeran, P., & Taylor, S. (1999). Predicting Intentions
to Use Condoms: A Meta-Analysis and Comparison of the Theories of Reasoned
Action and Planned Behavior. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 29(8),
1624-1675.